Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May called on the US government to reject proposals for special aviation taxes to fund international development projects.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and JetBlue Airways signed an educational collaboration agreement that "encourages cooperation between the two organizations," including training programs for JetBlue crewmembers.
Midwest Airlines will boost weekday service from Milwaukee to Newark to four flights and from Kansas City to Los Angeles to three flights. Also, the carrier will upgrade to 717s on its fourth weekday flight between Milwaukee and Minneapolis/St. Paul.
The European Commission extended its initial investigation into the acquisition of Swiss International Air Lines by Lufthansa by two weeks to July 8. At that time, the EC will decide whether to clear the deal, conditionally clear it or open an in-depth probe that could last up to four months. A two-week extension usually is accorded in order to look at the "remedies" the carriers have proposed to meet competition concerns raised by the Commission. It also allows third parties, including competitors, to comment on the proposed changes.
Air Berlin plans to take on the future Swiss subsidiary of larger rival Lufthansa at its home base in Zurich. "Switzerland with Zurich, where we already have a plane, will become a further area of growth for us," Reuters quoted Air Berlin head Joachim Hunold as saying.
CAE was awarded a contract to provide Air Canada with two full-flight simulators for Embraer 170s and 190s, along with a suite of CAE Simfinity training devices. Based on list prices excluding BFE, the contract is valued at approximately C$27 million ($27.8 million).
India's Kingfisher catches A380s GECAS commits to 10 A350s Airbus touts efficiencies of 'new' A350; Boeing claims seat inflation High fuel costs give lift to turboprops Business jet, RJ ambitions enabled PWC CSeries engine decision Additional stories Paris Air Show news from June 13, June 14, June 15 Paris, June 16, 2005 India's Kingfisher catches A380s
ExpressJet Holdings announced that George Bravante has been elected nonexecutive chairman. An independent member of the board, he will replace Thomas Schick, who will resign on July 1. Bravante, who has served as a director since July 2004, is the founder and general partner of Bravante-Curci Investors, a merchant bank focusing on real estate investments. Separately, ExpressJet flew 739.3 million RPMs in May, up 19.3% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 16.2% to 1 billion ASMs and load factor gained 1.9 points to 73.7%.
US Transportation Security Administration completed its explosives detection trace portal program pilot phase for passenger screening. TSA tested the systems in 14 cities and said the tests were successful. Beginning next month, the agency will start the first round of deployment by adding 44 additional machines and 10 airports to the program. Airports in Baltimore, Boston, Gulfport, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, Phoenix, Providence, Rochester, San Francisco, San Diego and Tampa were included in the pilot program and are already using the new technology.
Austrian Airlines Group CEO Vagn Soerensen told ATWOnline that Austrian is evaluating adding a third destination to its long-haul network next year. Possibilities include Nagoya, Hong Kong, or even a city like Chengdu, Soerensen said. Currently, the carrier serves Beijing and Shanghai. He also said Austrian is talking with United Airlines about a possible codeshare on the Chicago-Vienna route. Separately, the airline flew 1.83 billion RPKs in May, up 8.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 7.9% to 2.62 billion ASKs and load factor grew 0.4 point to 69.8%.
ARINC and Jeppesen announced an alliance that will integrate "best of class" electronic flight bag components from each company to produce an advanced EFB system. ARINC will provide the airborne data communications and document-viewer technology along with EFB integration and hardware support, while Jeppesen will supply its software, data and applications, including digital terminal charts and content administration tools. Jeppesen also will deliver its ground-breaking en route moving map and airport moving map technologies.
Lufthansa Technik signed two MOUs with Qatar Airways valued at more than $100 million. Under the first, LHT will take over maintenance and overhaul of the V2500 engines powering Qatar's fleet of 17 A320s over the next 10 years under a Total Engine Support contract. The second agreement calls for LHT to install Rockwell Collins' Tailwind 560 for onboard live satellite television on the carrier's 15 A330s. LHT said its engineers and technicians will equip the aircraft with antennas and corresponding systems and integrate the TV function into the existing IFE system.
AirTran Airways flew 971.2 million RPMs in May, up 38.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 34.4% to 1.3 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.3 points to 74.6%. For the five months ended May 31, RPMs increased 29% to 4.33 billion, ASMs jumped 27.4% to 6.02 billion and load factor gained 0.8 point to 71.8%.
Continental Airlines launched daily nonstop service between Newark and Beijing using 777s. The new flight is part of the carrier's major international expansion, which also includes the launch of six new transatlantic routes between May and November.
Alaska Airlines yesterday placed an order with Boeing for 35 737-800s, with an option to acquire an additional 15 and purchase rights for a further 50. According to the carrier, the value of the order at list prices is roughly $2.3 billion. "While we still have work to do on our operational performance, we are beginning to have visibility into a cost structure that will allow us to be profitable in this changed environment," Alaska CEO Bill Ayer said. "This order positions us for growth opportunities ahead."
Delta Air Lines raised passenger surcharges on tickets purchased for travel on its transatlantic flights on or after June 15, primarily because of soaring fuel prices. The surcharge increase is $10 each way except for travel originating in the UK, which is £4.50 ($8.19) each way. The increase applies to all transatlantic travel except that to and from Canada and Mexico, and travel from France and Italy.
Germany's cartel office earlier this week announced that it had raided four German leisure travel airlines, including two of Europe's biggest tourism firms, on suspicion of collusion on travel agency commissions. According to a report in FT Deutschland, the cartel office raided the offices of TUI, Thomas Cook, Air Berlin and LTU. The reason for the raids was suspicion of illegal collusion of the companies in relation to their joint termination of contracts with travel agencies, the cartel office said in a statement.
Etihad Airways selected Connexion by Boeing to provide high-speed inflight Internet and live global TV service. The agreement calls for both in-line and retrofit installation on the airline's fleet of 25 777-300ERs, A330s, A340s and A380s. The carrier expects initially to offer the service on routes between the Gulf region and Europe and North America. Financial terms of the deal were not released.
A live test of e-passports that contain computer chips with biographic and biometric information began yesterday at Terminals 2, 4 and 7 at Los Angeles International Airport and at Sydney Airport in Australia. The test will run through Sept. 15. Volunteers participating in the test include airline crew and officials of United Airlines, Air New Zealand and Qantas. They will present their new e-passports when arriving in the US through LAX or upon arrival in Australia through Sydney.
Despite its extensive lobbying efforts, Singapore Airlines yesterday was denied entry to the US-Australia corridor by the Australian government, the Associated Press reported. "The issue of transpacific access has been considered at the highest levels by the Australian government, which has decided the time is not right for Singapore Airlines to be granted access to the route," AP quoted a government spokesperson as saying.
Delta Air Lines launched daily nonstop flights between Louisville and New York JFK yesterday. The flights are operated by Delta Connection carrier Comair using CRJs.
Mesa Air Group flew 570.8 million RPMs in May, up 22.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 25.1% to 814.7 million ASMs and load factor dropped 1.4 points to 70.1%. For the five months ended May 31, RPMs increased 28.1% to 2.51 billion, ASMs grew 24% to 3.55 billion and load factor gained 2.3 points to 70.7%.
Frontier Airlines flew 614.9 million RPMs in May, up 26.3% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 8.3% to 804.2 million ASMs and load factor rose 10.9 points to 76.5%. For the five months ended May 31, RPMs increased 21.9% to 2.83 billion, ASMs rose 12.3% to 3.79 billion and load factor gained 5 points to 74.8%.
